Given the complete and spectacular collapse of the pirates, citizens need a scapegoat.
The clear choice is manager Derek Shelton.
Should the Pirates fire Shelton? Absolutely.
They shouldn’t have hired Shelton in the first place. He will never manage in the MLB again once his tenure with the Pirates is over. He’s a low-budget manager for a low-budget franchise.
But Shelton, like most captains in the big leagues, does what his analytics department tells him to do. He does his job at random. Data has long since replaced feeling, for better or for worse. Shelton’s successor will do his job the same way.
So what’s the difference? Any change would just be to appease the masses.
It’s not like Terry Francona is going to come out of retirement to coach the Pirates.
Even if Francona did that, he wouldn’t make the Pirates’ bottom third productive. You can’t polish excrement.
Francona couldn’t convince owner Bob Nutting to open his wallet. Nutting wouldn’t even pay the high price Francona would take.
The Pirates are a cheap franchise with no real intentions of winning.
The pirates cannot be repaired. Not as long as Nutting is the owner.
In short, Shelton’s inadequacy is one of the Pirates’ many problems.
Shelton is not to blame for:
• The bullpen collapse that sparked the Pirates’ current decline.
• The already mentioned uselessness of the lower third of the lineup.
• Bryan De La Cruz suffered a severe slump in performance immediately after being signed at the trade deadline.
• Ke’Bryan Hayes’ bad bat and reportedly bad back.
• The botched selection and development of Henry Davis, who should have been a productive cleanup hitter by now.
• O’Neill Cruz’s terrible inconsistency and total lack of baseball IQ.
• Jared Jones’ latissimus strain, if that is indeed the reason for his injury.
Some of it is due to organizational failure. Some of it is bad luck or the usual ups and downs of baseball.
However, a better manager could solve few of these problems.
If the Pirates got (or are getting) a better manager, it would be like stitching up a shotgun wound with a butterfly stitch.
Replacing Shelton is a good idea, but don’t expect it to do much good.
The Pirates will miss the playoffs because they are not good enough. It is unlikely that they will even finish the season with a win. Their roster is terribly flawed.
Andrew McCutchen is 37 and past his prime. But he’s the closest the Pirates have to providing a spark. It’s not good when the oldest player is the one trying the hardest. The Pirates are anything but brave. (They’ve lost 24 games by one point, the third-most in MLB.)
The Pirates have a record of just 9-7 in games started by Paul Skenes (who will obviously be out in September).
The Pirates have lost nine games in a row and 11 of 12. You couldn’t ask for a bigger collapse.
How much will a change in manager bring? Especially since the Pirates will not get Francona or a reasonable equivalent.
Skenes is a true phenomenon. Until now, he has been wasted in Pittsburgh.
You have to hit for him. The bullpen has to be better when Skenes is replaced. He throws every sixth day and not always deep into games. His impact on the win was kind of minimal.
The mob fantasizes about Skenes staying in Pittsburgh long-term.
Why would he want that? Skenes and his agent are probably already planning his escape.
